Swing Life Away
by BloodAngelsFan11
Summary: <html><head></head>Songfic. Manga-verse. Oneshot. SoMa.  They are comrades in arms, bound together as they fight against the Kishin's insanity. But what will happen once the world is at peace? With circumstance poised to pull them apart, will they be able to stay together?</html>


**Just a short little fic I thought up while listening to the song '**_**Swing Life Away' **_**by Rise Against. I hope you enjoy! Also, I know the name is rather unoriginal, but I couldn't think of a decent title for a song fic other that the name of the song.**

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><p><em>Am I loud and clear, or am I breaking up?<br>Am I still your charm, or am I just bad luck?  
>Are we getting closer, or are we just getting more lost?<em>

Maka sighed heavily, a fact that went unnoticed in the otherwise unoccupied park. She sat on a solitary bench, the rays of the setting sun painting the scene with an orange hue. Soul and the others all had things they needed to do, leaving her with nothing to do. She had tried to enjoy her rare 'alone time' but peace eluded her as her mind was plagued with concerns and fears.

Despite her occasional wishes to simply be left alone -to be able to simply study or read undisturbed- she hated the idea of being alone. Not for a brief period, of course, but on a larger scale; a fact compounded by the eerie silence of the apartment she shared with a certain white-haired Death Scythe. He, of course, was part of her problems.

No one would claim that they weren't close, or that they didn't have faith in each other. They were as close as partners could be. But what about when that partnership ended? He was a Death Scythe now, something brought about by her own actions. Of course, this was what they had hoped for; he was one of Shinigami-sama's personal weapons! He was strong and competent, and would ultimately be expected to undertake missions personally. He would be asked to travel around the world... and one day he might not be told to come back.

For now he remained in Death City, with her, Kid, Liz, Patti, Black Star, Tsubaki... as long as Asura remained at large, while Medusa still ran rampant, Soul had a reason to stay. And not even just Soul; All of the others would remain in Death City until the world was safe from the Kishin's insanity. But once they succeeded how long would it be until the others drifted apart? Black Star was strong and always growing stronger. Who could say where fate might take him, and presumably Tsubaki alongside him? Kid was eventually going to take over his father's position. What time would that leave him for a simple technician?

Even as the bonds between them grew, as they fought alongside each other and for each other, so did it seem they'd be split up. And to make things worse, they all knew it. While they still talked and joked like friends, you could feel the tension in their interactions... and Maka hated it. She hated that every time they were together they knew it could very well be one of the last times.

"Oi, Maka."

She looked up, mildly surprised to see her weapon standing a few feet away, confusion and concern visible in his red eyes.

"Soul?"

_I'll show you mine, if you show me yours first.  
>Let's compare scars, I'll tell you whose is worse,<br>Let's rewrite these pages, and replace them with our own words._

"What are you doing out here? I figured you'd be locked up in your room reading like always." He tried to sound disinterested but Maka could tell he faking. Although he'd never admit it, and even if he didn't always show it, Soul was too caring to ignore his friends' problems.

"I'm fine, Soul."

"Come on, Tiny-tits, moping isn't cool. Whatever it is you might as well say it."

She felt a vein throb in her head, but she tried to fight back down her anger; they had little enough time. There was no point filling it with more arguments. "I'm fine, Soul."

"No Maka Chop? Seriously, Tiny-tits, this isn't like you."

Alright, that did it! Miraculously pulling out the book she kept on her for just such an occasion, she closed the distance brought the spine of it crashing down on the boy's head and sending him to the ground. Oddly enough this was met by a smirk.

"Feel better?" said the Death Scythe, brushing himself as he stood and resumed his normal 'cool' posture.

She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Eventually she managed a quiet "Yes."

"Now come on. The others are waiting to go get something to eat." He began to walk away, not even looking to see if she was following but rather trusting her to do so regardless.

She raised a questioning eyebrow before inevitably going after him. She caught up to him, walking beside him down the street in comfortable silence. Well, what had been a comfortable silence before her thoughts were brought back to their previous topic. What would happen when Soul left?  
>"Ne, Soul?"<p>

_I've been here so long, I think that it's time to move,  
>The winter's so cold, summer's over too soon<br>Let's pack our bags and settle down where palm trees grow,_

"What?"

She swallowed before asking a question that she wanted to ask him before that 'hopefully-far-off' day occurred. While she may have been worried about the rest of her friends as well, she knew that Soul's departure would be the hardest. How could you go from having someone with you every day for years, living with you, keeping you company, being partners with them, to having no one? And what if you wanted more than to be partners? "Soul, have you ever wanted to..." Despite her conviction, she still found herself struggling to ask that one question. "...move things along?"

He stared at her blankly, halting in his path. For a moment she panicked, fearing he was going to outright reject her, before her fears were assuaged when he responded with a blunt "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Well, I mean..." She looked away as she tried to think of a way to phrase her question. "Soul, are you happy with the way things are right now?"

"You mean the apartment? We could do without the cat but things are fine. Did you want to move somewhere else?" He delivered that last part with a sly grin, as if he knew what she was asking and was merely toying with her. If he was, she swore to Shinigami-sama (and she would literally do so if need be!) that she would Maka Chop him so hard he wouldn't be able to see straight!

"No I don't mean the apartment!" She hadn't meant to snap at him, but that last thought had her a bit riled.

"Then do you mean our missions? I'm already a Death Scythe, and a damn cool one at that, so I don't see what we could do better." Okay, he was definitely mocking her!

She opened her mouth to speak again but was interrupted. "Come on, I told the others we'd be over in five minutes."

"Right..." She let out a disappointed sigh and looked down at her feet as she moved forward. She cast a forlorn look toward her partner but found her attention caught by the open hand outstretched toward her. She gaped at him, baffled, but his only response was to nod his head, smirk plastered on his face, toward their destination and nudge his hand a little closer. She wordlessly took it and stepped up closer to him.

As they continued on, she found herself rather annoyed. Of course she was glad that he seemed to return her affections, but "Do you always have to act so cool? Can't you just say something straight up?"

He chuckled. "I don't act cool. I am cool."

"You're starting to sound like Black Star." Oh, that wiped the smirk off of his face.

_I've got some friends, some that I hardly know,  
>But we've had some times, I wouldn't trade for the world,<br>We chase these days down with talks of the places that we will go,_

They eventually came to a small restaurant, their friends lounging around outside. Tsubaki cast them a confused but happy smile, noticing their interlocked hands, while Liz cast them an evil-looking smile upon making the same observation. Death the Kid and Patti were too busy being annoyed and amused respectively at Black Star's rant about his greatness.

They made a few quick greetings before continuing inside, Soul still never releasing Maka's hand. Kid had noticed, by the time they were seated, yet Black Star and Patti remained as oblivious as ever. Before the blue-haired ninja could resume his rant, Kid raised a glass (admittedly it seemed rather silly since it was a glass of water, but still.) "Here's to beating the Kishin Asura, here's to the days of peace we may have, and here's to our friends, may we never drift apart."

_We live on front porches and swing life away,  
>We get by just fine here on minimum wage,<br>If love is a labor I'll slave till the end,  
>I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand,<em>

Maybe Kid just somehow knew what had been bothering her, or maybe he also noticed the strain their situations had put on their friendships, but something in his impromptu toast put her at ease. Maybe things would work out. Maybe they would beat the odds.

Tuning out the ever louder words of Black Star Maka leaned into Soul, glancing at his face. Even glaring at his loudmouthed best friend, one could tell he too was put at ease by Kid's brief speech. Maka smiled and closed her eyes. There were no assurances, but even so they would just have to take what was given to them and enjoy what moments they could get.

_Swing life away...  
>Swing life away.<em>

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><p><strong>First off, as I'm sure your aware I decided to forego the route of making the lyrics match up directly with the story. Honestly, it would be weird if they actually lived on front porches or hung out around swings, not to mention all the other stuff. I thought it would be better if I just based the sections on the basic purposemessage of each verse.**

**Second, I hope the characters were not too OOC. I will admit I just wrote this up at 4:30 A.M. Although this is my normal sleep schedule, I do still tend to lose a bit of focus around now. **

**And finally, please review. Obviously I cannot force you to do so, so I merely ask that you give me some feedback so I can improve. I hope you enjoyed it!**


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